Objective: We aimed at determining the relationship between asymmetric dimethyl arginine (ADMA) and neopterin levels and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Materials and methods: In our study, we included 41 T2DM patients with DR, 21 T2DM patients without DR, and 20 healthy controls. We measured HbA1c, fasting blood glucose, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, neopterin, and ADMA levels by taking fasting serum and plasma samples. In healthy controls, we evaluated ADMA and neopterin levels in T2DM patients with DR, and T2DM patients without DR. We evaluated the relationship between ADMA levels and HbA1c, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and neopterin.
Results: There was no statistically significant difference in ADMA and neopterin levels between the DR group, the non-DR group, and the control group. There was no significant relationship found between ADMA and neopterin levels and the severity of retinopathy.In our study, we only found a moderate positive correlation between ADMA and neopterin (ρ=0.453 p<0.001).
Conclusions: Serum ADMA and neopterin levels did not differ significantly between groups at all stages of DR. Regardless of macrovascular disease, we think that serum neopterin and ADMA levels are not associated with retinopathy in patients with T2DM. Further studies are needed to determine whether ADMA and neopterin have an effect on the pathogenesis
